Protesters walk 96 miles – from desert to L.A. – to denounce ICE

For these protesters, a week-long, 96-mile pilgrimage on foot through Southern California’s desert, forest, mountainous and urban terrain is nothing compared to what they call deplorable conditions and deaths at immigration detention centers.

It is, those who call themselves “pilgrims” said, a sacred journey.

“A pilgrimage is a sacred practice in many faith traditions,” said the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez, a Los Angeles-based United Methodist Church minister walking the Clear the Road to Freedom pilgrimage that began earlier this week outside the Adelanto immigration detention center. “That’s what this pilgrimage is for us. You physically walk or journey to a sacred site, but it’s also a spiritual journey, closer to God.”

Gutierrez is executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, which organized the first-ever pilgrimage along with interfaith and immigration advocates from around the region. Protesters aim to draw attention to and “call for an end to cruel immigration policy, and a close to all detention centers,” a news release states.

On Thursday, Oct. 1, an ICE spokesperson denounced the protesters’ claims as false.

The water at the Adelanto facility is “accessible 24/7,” tested regularly in “state-certificated, third-party laboratories,” and is the same used by residents and businesses in the city, an unnamed spokesperson wrote in an email.

The spokesperson also said that ICE facilities provide “safe, secure, and humane” conditions for prisoners, plus three nutritious meals a day that accommodate special diets, which is “consistent” with national detention centers. The centers offer medical, dental and mental health services to detainees, including 24-hour emergency care.

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” the statement said. “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives.”

The spokesperson added that: “While detention is not a destination resort, ICE remains committed to maintaining appropriate conditions of confinement, and rejects baseless allegations regarding the treatment of those in its care. Facility staff treat all detainees equally, respectfully and with dignity … detention is a choice.”

The protest journey began Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in the High Desert in San Bernardino County. It is traveling through parts of the Inland Empire and San Gabriel Valley, before reaching its endpoint at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The faithful denounced the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, which since 2025 has called for ramped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and thousands of detained immigrants at federal centers nationwide.

“We reflect on what is keeping us from God, what are we doing here?” Gutierrez said. “I would argue that the treatment of our immigrant neighbors is what’s keeping us from the community that God wants us to be and create together. How can we as a community come together to really protect our neighbors, honor their humanity, being children of God?”

Immigrants detained at Adelanto — including the families of several detainees who have died inside — have alleged inhumane conditions such as spoiled or inadequate food, dirty water or lack of medical care.

The pilgrims say they have heard enough from ICE and many said they hope to protest for those for whom it is not safe to speak out.

The walk is also raising money for a detained immigrant bond fund run by Gutierrez’s organization. Since its launch in June 2025, the fund has raised about $2 million and helped pay the bonds of at least 190 detained immigrants, officials said.

At least 15 people from different faith traditions — including Christian pastors, Jewish rabbis, and laypersons  — are walking the entire east-to-west route, putting in eight to 10 hours a day. The trek includes stops in Hesperia, the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Fontana, La Verne, Monrovia and Alhambra on the way to L.A.

The journey started with a prayer vigil in front of the Adelanto detention center on Tuesday. Hundreds of immigration advocates joined as the pilgrimage departed, with more joining along the way or supporting from afar, Gutierrez said.

“Two people who had been inside talked about how it impacted them, and one guy said the hardest part — aside from the rotten food, water, etc. — was being away from his family, his kids,” Gutierrez said. “Now that he’s back home, sometimes in the middle of the night his kids will wake up afraid, and check just to make sure he’s not gone … that really got me.”

“It’s now been over a year since these raids have started, so there are people who have been in detention for over a year, experiencing those conditions,” Gutierrez said. “At what point does that person forget that they’re a valued human being, that people outside miss them?”

The pilgrims start each day with a morning prayer circle, in which people talk about their intentions for the day. They end with nightly reflections from people who have been affected by ICE who share their testimony.

When the protesters reach downtown L.A. on Tuesday, they plan to join the midday prayer gathering of mothers and godmothers “of the disappeared,” which for over a year have been protesting weekly on Tuesdays outside the federal detention center, demanding the release of those detained or arrested by immigration officers. The Tuesday afternoon protests are open to the public.

All people of faith are invited to join in the pilgrimage, Gutierrez said, whether by walking the route or spiritually through prayer.

“It’s hardening our resolve. Our bodies are on fire, after all the walking, but also we have more resolve to continue the journey, praying each step is a step in the name of justice.”